France manager Didier Deschamps said his side need to sharpen up in front of goal at Euro 2024 but the knockout rounds will give them an opportunity for a fresh start after they ended their group stage campaign with a 1-1 draw with Poland on Tuesday.
France finished second in group D with five points, behind surprise table-toppers Austria, booking their spot in the last 16 where they will face the runners-up in group E, where Romania, Belgium, Slovakia and Ukraine are all on three points.
Deschamps' side began their campaign with a 1-0 victory over Austria that came courtesy of an own goal, before they drew a blank in a 0-0 draw with the Netherlands and finished with Tuesday's draw in which Kylian Mbapp scored with a penalty.
Their lack of goals is a concern for Deschamps, who hopes they can rediscover the impressive scoring form they showed in qualifying.
We need to score more goals, we need to be more clinical, and I am looking for that, Deschamps told reporters. We can improve but that's it. We need to hit them where it hurts but we have always had a goal average that is quite impressive, for these three games it hasn't quite been there.
